Rafters Restaurant and Lounge

Originally I had heard good reviews of this place from
My dad. Unfortunately since he was last here it’s standards have fallen way below average. From being greeted by an old lady with her bra straps hanging out of her sundress, to the waitstaff having the personality of a door knob. We ordered Cesar salads and flat bread and they couldn’t even manage those. The salads had no dressing, and when you got an extra side of it, it had no flavor. The flatbread pizza was completely drenched in marinara sauce with hardly anything on top, and tasted like it came out of the freezer section at Ralph’s. I would no want anyone to waste their money here, what once was, is definitely not attention holding anymore.

Great spot! The menu had some really interesting selections such as boar and elk! Even though those were tempting went with a burger which was perfect! I had the Apricot Manhattan also quite delicious and I was pleased to see they used a better Marachino cherry than the neon red ones of the old days.

I gave Rafters 3 stars because of the great happy hour wine. But the Cesar salad with salmon was disappointing. $ 10.00 extra charge for a three bite piece of cold smoked salmon. The romaine was had mostly white center sections of romaine lettuce. For the price, I was expecting a typical piece of salmon filet for a salad with fresher romaine. Staff was friendly.

Bison chili and Guinness on tap. Made my rainy day dinner superb. Friendly staff and a good place to chill with the locals. Can’t speak to much else as I have only eaten here once but I’ll be back and not afraid to bring the family.

Long overdue. Was in this winter for a big group dinner in the back room. Big, as in 20+ people. Same night as the Rage Against The Machine cover band was playing.
Tyson handled us with skill and grace. Beer/​wine was flowing, food came out as appropriate and everyone’s order was on point. Couldn’t ask for anything more!
They’ve definitely turned the place around from five years ago and I’m stoked. Great work.

It’s been a long time since we were at the Rafters. We came with short notice and got a table (Openable) for dinner on a Friday. It was not too crowded although there was a private party in one of the side rooms. Server was prompt, and we ordered 2 drinks, a Manhattan and a Fresca. My husband gave high praise for the Manhattan! The bread was hot from the oven and was tasty. The salads were huge! and we took them home after only finishing probably ¹⁄₃ of it, a wedge salad and a Ceasar’s. For the main course, I had the bacon crusted salmon, which was super good and tender. And my husband ordered the rib eye steak. We were very happy with the prompt service since we were quite hungry! So overall, a very good experience.

Unfortunately Rafters is best you can do in mammoth for nightlife. The karaōke night sucks really bad mostly because of their lame dj & too white crowd that can’t sing or dance.

Great place for drinks and dancing after a day of skiing or boarding. After ~10pm or so they had a DJ playing an eclectic selection of pop/​hip-​hop music with many old favorites. The dance floor was really happening by 11pm! The owner was present and super fun. We had drinks only, so can’t comment on the food. But we had great service from our waiter.

Rafters is okay for food but not for drinks.
I don’t believe they use fresh limes here for their cocktails. Ordered the mojito which tasted funky. I thought this was due to the mint, so I ordered the gimlet next instead, essentially the same drink without the mint, but that tasted strange too.
Also, they ran out of spoons at one point during the night.

The live music had a great vibe. The food was amazing and the staff were warm and inviting. Been thinking about this place recently. Love to log some more hours apres ski.

Steve the bartender is the nicest guy in town. Great service with a smile. He steered us towards a nice Tullamore Dew and some fine happy hour food.
I look forward to returning.

Food was decent, but 2 servers and a hostess for a Sunday = not good service. Latte machine not working, out of salmon, waiting 15 minutes each time for Mimosa and coffee refills?
Edited: we just got the bill, and they attempted to charge us for the salmon bagel that they were out of

I’ve been coming to this location since 1998 when It was the High Sierra Rickin Grill owned by Grateful Phil… I love this spot… I have now been stoping in for the open mic on Mondays now for the last month this winter… the bartender Steve Smith aka «Hippy Steve» is not only a jedi master at customer service with good vibes and energy but also a sick snowboarder too… I got to run into him on the top of Hemlock Ridge last week and had a blast taking some turns with him! Kurt their sound man is always spot on with the sound !!! And the host of the night always make me laugh with his jokes!!! A pretty cool scene building on Mondays at Rafters in Mammoth this winter !
Peace… Vincenzo !
Links:
VTA — Vincenzo Thomas Amato
Amato’s Family Kitchen — Owner
Bandwagon Productions — Owner
Salvage Bar & Lounge — General Manager
Silverback Artist Management — Music Library Rep.

The one and two star reviews are real people.. . this place bites the big one.
We got stuck here because the rest of town was too busy with tons of snowboarders in town.
Just awful service. We didn’t see a menu and sat at a dirty (I mean filthy) table for 20 minutes. It was breakfast time, no offer of coffee or water, nada. I swept the table with a menu, and a pile of dirt formed. Nasty.
I asked for us to move to a back booth, they moved us, and then we sat there for another good while until we got service.
Mediocre breakfast. Nothing special on the menu at all. Pancakes for $ 12. What?
This place was/​is the definition of a tourist trap. It was especially disappointing because we’d had such an awesome weekend to that point. There are much, MUCH better places in mammoth.
I only give this place one star because they do know how to make a bloody mary.

Good food fast service cozy atmosphere big fireplace easy parking and not expensive at all
What more can you want :)

We came here for breakfast on a Tuesday morning… the place was virtually empty except for one bartender and the kitchen staff. Oh, and one female patron at the bar. The bartender was the host and server that morning, as well. We sat ourselves at a booth and I went and got a high chair for our son.
We ordered a Bloody Mary, tea, the Old Mammoth Road (eggs, bacon, hash browns, & toast) and the Continental (croissant, muffins, yogurt, fruit, & granola). The ice machine was broken so our server/​bartender said he couldn’t make my Bloody Mary. No problem, I figured that was God’s way of telling me I didn’t need any alcohol. But I still had a hankering for an adult beverage. I tried to think of a drink that didn’t really need ice… a mimosa! Our server/​bartender wound up giving that to me on the house for not being able to make my Bloody Mary. That was really nice of him and totally unnecessary; I appreciated that he went the extra mile.
Our food came out fast and everything was really delicious. The bacon slices are thick and generous, the hash browns brown and crispy, the granola and yogurt tasted super fresh and of good quality, and the croissant was fantastic.
It was kind of nice having the whole place to ourselves with the crackling fire nearby. Our server/​bartender was very attentive (even while the gal at the bar had all his attention haha) and we left satisfied and happy. I would gladly return to see if the level of service and quality of food remains top notch for lunch and/​or dinner!

I haven’t been to Rafters in a few years for breakfast. I’m now a fan. Our staff goes out for breakfast regularly, and both Good Life Café and The Stove started refusing to split the bill (there are always four of us when we have our dept. breakfast), so we needed to find a new spot.
So, we tried Rafters for breakfast. It’s very good! The food portions are great (very filling), the prices are reasonable, and service was good. They cheerfully agreed to split the bill for our group of four.
I only have one gripe, and that’s the «local discount» (10%) was applied to only one of our guy’s bill. The manager only just told us about the local’s discount after we sat down, so since we didn’t even know about it until we got there, it’s not THAT big a deal. But, he did ask our group to «spread the word.» So, I’m happy to tell everyone that they offer a local’s discount of 10%, but I guess you had better be sure they actually apply it, since only one of our four bills had it applied.
But, as I said, I didn’t even know about it until I got there, so how can I really complain? Just don’t tell a guest you’ve got a discount for them, and then fail to apply it.
That said, I think it’s going to be a new breakfast spot for my guys. The food was excellent, service was prompt and courteous, and the portion sizes are generous. Coffee was refilled quickly, and we got a nice table next to the fireplace. Good atmosphere, good food, good service. A solid breakfast experience, and would recommend for anyone.
We had the breakfast burrito, the frittata, biscuits & gravy, and the lumberjack (pancake/​ham/​eggs/​hash browns), and everyone enjoyed their food.

Terrible New Years Eve dinner experience. In 11 months from now, if a fellow Unilocaler is researching where to go for NYE in Mammoth, hopefully my review will come up in the search and you’ll be spared the experience we had.
Essentially they charged $ 75/​pp and «tried» to put out a meal that would somehow, someway feel worth that… but honestly they didn’t try that hard. It was like a big joke… on the diners.
As an earlier reviewer said — the fig, melon, ham appetizer was so poorly executed… literally they didn’t know what they were doing serving a dried fig, melon with rind on it and hard ham.
Mushroom broth as the second course — no, I didn’t mistype. Thats broth. Not bisque. Straight up mushroom flavored water.
Beef Tenderloin and Fish for entrees. The fish was dry and tasteless. The beef was served with what looked like boxed potatoes au gratin and baby carrots with amateur seasoning.
We just laughed through the meal, it was comical how terrible it was. We’ll be back to Mammoth, many times over. We’ll never be back to Rafters.

Manager was a dick. We’re «locals» (aka our family has been coming up here for 30+ years, every winter, around 4 – 5 times a year) and he was extremely rude to us. Kept asking us to move to a different table. They had a live band so I get that they needed room but he was evacuating tables EVERYWHERE. I also understand fire code but come on dude, there’s absolutely no reason a 3 person band needs 75% of your space. This is a valuable space where customers are willing to sit, spend money and eat/​drink. You’re literally hemorrhaging money and losing profit by doing this.
This was last season btw, never finished my review. The bartenders are always super cool and all the employees seem to be irritated by this uptight a-​hole. Hope things are different this season so we can once again enjoy one of our favorite mammoth bars.

Came here for breakfast and later for dessert.
Breakfast — only ordered off the kids menu, which was a good deal for the little ones and plenty of food. The kids really wanted bacon, which ended up being a touch pricy, but you get 3 thick maple soaked greasy pieces of bacon for $ 5.
Dessert —
Kids had the smores, which was even too rich for them. The marshmellows are nicely done, their highlight and the graham crackers on the bottom are a super nice touch. The chocolate is pudding and was a little too sweet for me.
The bread pudding was great. Done with croissants instead of bread. Definitely worth trying.
They’ve got a nice outdoor porch.